by Alex Linwood
“So, are you skipping dinner tonight?” Portia asked, in mock seriousness.
“Never!” Ella said, her voice rising.
Portia laughed and pulled her bag from underneath her desk. She had just a few minutes to get some packing done before dinner, and could finish the rest before she passed out that evening. Ella raised her eyebrows at Portia’s bag but didn’t ask about it.
The world rumbled and shook. Somehow, Portia’s room no longer had a ceiling but was open to the night sky. Bare tree limbs whipped back and forth in a high wind under the dim light of the night’s stars. The moon was nowhere to be seen.
The wind whipped at Portia’s covers, giving her a chill. She wanted to grab them and pull them tight to her but her hands wouldn’t move. Her whole body was frozen. A cold wind whipped across her face, heavy with the scent of burning leaves and wood.
Above her, a crack appeared between the stars, covering a good portion of the night sky and then spreading wide. She only dimly perceived its presence because of the lack of stars. When she tried to focus on the crack, the black played tricks on her eyes until she could not be sure she saw anything at all.
Two gray scaled hands appeared, one on each side of the crack, impossibly large. They pulled and strained at the crack to make it even wider. Portia’s stomach roiled wildly. She felt dizzy—the world was spinning. Still, her hands would not respond even though she wanted to grab the edges of her bed for safety. She felt as if she were going to slide off, perhaps even slide off the edge of the world.
Dimly, she was aware she was in a nightmare. She willed herself to wake but failed. Her heart raced, and she panicked as one of the hands let go of the edge of the crack and came down from the night sky and reached into her bedroom, plucking her up by her nightshirt. The world fell away as the hand pulled her up into the crack, into the darkness, and away from the world.
Portia awoke with a start, her heart racing. The bedding and her nightshirt were soaked with sweat. She had not had one of her nightmares in a while. As if to make up for this, this one was worse than any other she could remember. It was even more horrifying still that she knew part of it was not symbolic. There were real cracks in the sky that led to other worlds. Humans had come through one of them. And there was a name for them—splinters. She wished she did not know that.
The nightmare disturbed her too much for her to attend classes that morning. Instead, she unpacked and repacked her things, positive she had forgotten something. Her nervousness warred against her desire to not be late. Somehow, she felt she would never be ready to go on this trip.
She had left her new dresses in the closet, thinking they would not be practical on the road. Besides, they were too beautiful. She was uncomfortable with such fine clothes. If she was traveling to the uncertainty of a new country, she needed the reassurance of her old clothes more than ever—the breeches and tunics and doublets that gave her freedom of motion, and the confidence of her old life.
She just put the last of her extra knives in her bag when Professor Hilda knocked on the door to her room. Portia waved Hilda in, glad to see her. She had hoped she would get a chance to speak to her before leaving. She had not seen Professor Hilda nor Professor Aelric since her test with the elves and wondered how much they knew about those tests. Did they knowingly let a student place her life on the line?
“Congratulations. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you finished the test yesterday,” Hilda said, sitting on Ella’s desk chair while Portia moved her bag to the floor. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.”
Portia squinted at the professor—so she knew. She gave herself a small shake. Hilda had always been on her side, so perhaps there was nothing anyone could have done about it. “I’m glad to see you now,” Portia said. “Can you tell me anything about the Elven kingdoms? No one has said anything to me except for what time to be ready to go.”
Hilda sighed heavily. “Unfortunately, no. We do not know much about them except for what they choose to share. The one thing I do know is that they do not seem to know the meaning of Jack of Magic. They have not studied our history or else they would know your significance.”
“But they know something of a bad event coming?” Portia asked, confused.
“Yes. Perhaps it is an arrogance of theirs to ignore the history of the other kingdoms that share this world. It would not be surprising. The elves have long resented humanity, ever since…” Hilda looked at her hands awkwardly.
“Since… what?
“Well, since forever. There have been rumors that we stole their lands in the past. I’m not sure as to the truth of that talk. It is a question for the historians. In any case, they do not share their information easily. It is a notable miracle that you are invited to their lands, to learn magic that only they know.” She looked intently at Portia. “Do not waste this opportunity.”
“I-I won’t,” Portia said. She suddenly felt very small and anxious about this trip.
“And I just want to remind you, you are still to not share your status of Jack with anyone in Haulstatt. Be careful in the human kingdom—don’t let anyone know. Not anyone. There are those who think the existence of a Jack is a blasphemy. They would do you harm. And try to not say too much about it in the elf kingdom either. Reveal only what is necessary to learn.”
Portia nodded, swallowing. It was bad enough there was an outside threat. It further ratcheted up her anxiety to think she also had to be wary of all other humans. She had hoped that was a thing of the past.
Hilda rose and hugged Portia. “You’ll do fine. Trust yourself.”
“Thank you,” Portia said under her breath as Hilda exited the room.
She heard Hilda’s voice in the hallway, followed by the low-pitched rumble of a man’s. Professor Aelric was here. He was her history professor but also the house leader of the Cryomancy house. It was unusual for him to be in this house.
A few seconds later, his face appeared in her doorway. “Greetings, Student Portia. We missed you at class this morning.”
“Sorry,” Portia said.
He waved away her apology. “It’s okay, there are unusual circumstances afoot.” He sat down heavily on the chair just abandoned by Professor Hilda. “What you did yesterday was very impressive. And I’ve never heard of a human being invited to an elf kingdom to learn magic. It is rare enough to be allowed into Rocabarra at all.”
“Thanks,” Portia said, embarrassed at his praise.
Aelric didn’t seem to notice. “I wanted to make sure you got this.” He held out a small green book. At Portia’s confused look, he spoke. “It’s the translation of the book you found, as promised. I’m keeping the original here for safekeeping.”
“How did you translate the entire thing so fast?” she asked, taking the little green tome.
He looked pleased with himself. “That was a fun little trick to think up. Even I will admit that. The archivists have book copy spells. We were able to work with one of the spells and my knowledge of the language to have it create a copy while translating at the same time. We practiced by creating another translation copy that now resides in my office, sitting alongside the original.” He gave her a serious look. “I didn’t want you losing the original out there somewhere on the road. It is a rare book.”
The little green book was the same size as the purple one she had left with Aelric, but this one felt different; her fingertips felt the familiar tingle of magic as she held it. She let it fall open to a page. The page was filled with beautiful curling script. Thankfully, Mia had taught her how to read cursive last fall. Her preference would have been printed words, but she wasn’t going to breathe a word of complaint to Professor Aelric. He had a rigid sense of propriety, and she guessed that writing in script was a part of that. The important part was that she could read it at all.
“Thank you. Thank you so much,” Portia said, truly grateful.
“Of course—stop gushing. It’s unbecoming of a champion.” Aelric looked uncomfortable. “In
any event, I should be getting back to my classroom. I only had a short break.” He rose and walked to the door.
“Wait, is there anything I should know about Rocabarra?”
Aelric turned to face Portia.
“Elf kingdom customs and all that. You know more of their history than anyone else I know, I’m guessing. Is there anything I should or should not do? I don’t want to offend them and—” Portia did not know how to phrase her question without being offensive. “I can’t read Lady Harper. I couldn’t tell if she wanted me to pass or not.”
“She wants, like the rest of us, to survive. That’s all you need to know. Remember that.”
Portia looked down at her feet, not much reassured.
Aelric spoke again, this time his voice softened. “You’ll be fine. Just get enough rest and remember that your job is to learn and to take care of yourself. You are the only Jack we have.”
Portia nodded.
“The guards that will escort you are already waiting at the front of the Academy. Don’t keep them standing around for too long.” He gave a teasing half smile. “By the way, they didn’t get your horse for you. Something about Academy-only access. You have to stop by the stables,” Aelric said, and then he was gone.
“Stables?” Portia ran to the window and looked out—the sun was high in the sky. Her heart started racing in a panic and she grabbed her bag and ran out the door. After all that had happened, she was determined to not lose her chance, possibly jeopardizing the human kingdom, by something as silly as being late and getting left behind.
Mia had been planning to teach Portia how to ride sometime that year after she’d expressed an interest, but in the crush of events that school year it had not yet happened. Portia now severely regretted that lack. She would have gladly given up some of her math knowledge to be able to ride a horse.
Portia ran down to the stables, her bag bouncing on her back. The smell of warm hay and barn wafted up the path towards her. She could hear the animals nickering in the stalls.
Just as she reached the tall double-height doors to the barn, Magisend exited, nearly pushing the door into Portia’s face by accident. Magisend was never happy to see Portia. Her face scrunched up into a scowl as Portia skidded to a stop to avoid colliding and sending the noble girl flying back into the barn.
“What are you doing, commoner?” Magisend spat out as she reeled back a few steps.
“Sorry, sorry. I don’t want to be late,” Portia said, biting her lip when she realized she shouldn’t have said anything at all.
“Late for what? You don’t have a horse here. And I’ve never seen you ride.” Magisend folded her arms across her chest and blocked the entrance to Portia.
“I-I’m going on a trip, you know, to learn how to fit in,” Portia said, realizing what a horrible lie it was. She was going to have to come up with a better cover story.
The soft snicker of a horse from just within the barn doors startled Magisend. She turned to see Lady Harper leading out two horses with several other elves and horses behind her. Magisend’s mouth dropped into a small oh of surprise at the sight of the elves in the Academy horse barn.
Without a word, Lady Harper walked to Portia and gave her the reins of an older horse. White flecked the horse’s muzzle. It nudged Portia in a friendly way. She took the reins and froze in place, allowing the animal to inspect her, not knowing what else to do. Lady Harper walked on leading a much younger stallion, followed by the nine elves with their own horses. They mounted then continued down the path, not turning to see if Portia followed.
Magisend watched the whole thing with amazement then glanced at Portia. Portia swore she saw something resembling respect in Magisend’s expression. But Portia didn’t have the luxury of figuring that out now—her group was leaving. If she didn’t do something, they would disappear over the hill without her.
“Wait,” Portia called after them, juggling her bag and the horse’s reins. She started to run down the path, dragging the horse along. She could hear Magisend laughing. She stopped, looked at the horse and again at the riders leaving her behind, and resumed running, once again trailing the horse.
“Oh my gosh, stop, you idiot commoner!” Magisend called, barely able to talk she was laughing so hard. Despite her words, she didn’t sound as angry as she normally did, so Portia did stop.
“What? They’re going to leave me,” Portia said, frustration creeping into her voice, threatening to turn her voice into a whine.
“You aren’t going to catch them by running after them. Get on your horse.”
Portia’s face turned red. She pursed her lips and looked down.
“You don’t know how. This is too much,” Magisend said, laughing once again, bending over to get enough breath for deep belly laughs.
“Shut up.” Portia knew it was undignified, but she just lost her temper.
“Oh calm down.” Magisend trotted to Portia and took her bag and slung it over the horse behind the saddle. She strapped it on with a few loose leather ties hanging there. She then grabbed Portia’s left leg and shoved her foot into the stirrup. She pushed Portia up, motioning for her to lift her right leg and get on the horse. Portia did as Magisend indicated and gasped a bit as she sat down in the saddle—she was so much higher than it looked from the ground.
“Now, don’t pull too hard on the reins and let this old girl follow the other horses,” Magisend said.
Portia nodded at the instructions, a little confused at the girl’s kindness. For all her mockery, this was the first time Magisend had ever helped Portia do anything. Portia smiled down at her, but Magisend only laughed again and slapped the rear of the horse, sending it down the path towards the retreating elves. Lady Harper looked back and saw Portia was following and then resumed leading the group away. Portia could still hear Magisend’s laughter as they rounded the hill that marked the edge of campus.
Chapter 6
Portia followed the elves through the narrow streets of Coverack. They passed by the festival grounds where vendors were tearing down their tents and stalls. Portia wondered why they had to wait until the end of the festival to leave. She must remember to ask Lady Harper, if she was ever given the opportunity to ask questions.
Once past the festival grounds, they passed through the more well-to-do areas of the city. The streets opened wider, and the houses were larger and set back on expansive lawns. They were exiting the city through the west gate, a direction Portia had never been before. There was more land here since the buildings were not crushed up against the hard barrier of the sea and the city wall.
Once the horses could ride side by side, Lady Harper motioned for Portia to stay in the middle while she rode on the left and a different elf flanked Portia to the right. Despite nearly being left behind, Portia suddenly had the feeling she was being guarded by the elves. Then she remembered the palace guards that were supposed to escort her. Where were they?
She turned to Lady Harper and drew up her courage. “I thought there were supposed to be palace guards with us. Professor Aelric mentioned they were waiting on the edge of the Academy grounds.”
Lady Harper turned to Portia and assessed her with a cool gaze. The horses’ hooves thumped on the ground as they continued down the street. Finally, Lady Harper spoke. “Yes, they were. I asked the guards to meet us by the west gate. They were drawing too much attention, and we were not quite ready to leave yet.”
This made Portia nervous. She didn’t know what authority Lady Harper had to tell palace guards to do anything different. Shouldn’t that order come directly from the king or queen? But she would wait until they arrived at the west gate before jumping to any conclusions. There would be people around there, and if she felt the need to get away from the elves, she would not be alone with them. There would be help available. She did not trust the elves, especially after they had endangered her life for silly tests that could have easily been done much more safely. At least more safely for herself. She still didn’t know if tho
se were real elves inside the worlds of the tests. The sight of the one elf dying of cold still haunted her.
“Okay,” Portia said, glancing unsurely at Lady Harper. She fiddled with the reins of her horse a bit until the horse tossed its head in irritation and Portia stilled her hands. They were fast approaching the edge of the city, but she still wasn’t clear where they were going. She had a rough idea from the maps at school, but the land denoting the elf kingdom had few details drawn on it—it was mostly a beige blotch on the paper. “Where exactly are we going?”
“To the elf kingdom. The capital, to be exact, of Rocabarra. That is where the elf who knows the splintering magic lives. In addition, you need to meet our king and queen for approval of this knowledge. I am only authorized so far and have taken a risk to promise the house of Coverack your teaching. Hopefully, I haven’t overextended myself.” Lady Harper hesitated for the first time Portia had ever seen then continued on. “But the need is great. Risks must be taken.”
It had not occurred to Portia that Lady Harper was taking a risk as well. It did not excuse their risking of her life, but at least she understood it was also serious for them.
To Portia’s relief, Lady Harper continued speaking without Portia having to ask questions. “We will be traveling through Holne and then going northwest on the trade road to reach the gate to the Elven kingdom.”
Portia nodded. This matched what she could recall from the maps in the Academy. “Will it be much colder there? I mean, if we’re going north and all.”
“A few months ago, yes, it would have been much colder. But luckily we are past the worst of the season and things are warming up, even in the north. The passes were easy to traverse on the way to the festival. I believe that is part of the timing of the spring festival—one of the few concessions humans have made in an effort to get along with the elves. Or perhaps they just want to celebrate the warmth.”
“Are elves always at the spring festival?” Portia asked, suddenly curious. “In Coverack anyway. I don’t remember seeing any elves in Valencia.”